The Abnormality of Topological Asymmetry between Hemispheric Brain White Matter Networks in Alzheimer’s Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Lijia Wang¹  Shengdong Nie¹  Cheng Yang¹  Xiaolong Zhou¹  Long Wei²  Suyu Zhong³ 

[1] Institute of Medical Imaging Engineering, School of Medical Instrument and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and TechnologyShanghai, China;Laiwu Vocational and Technical CollegeShandong, China;State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China;

关键词: Alzheimer’s disease;    connectome;    diffusion tensor imaging;    graph theory;    hemispheric asymmetry;    mild cognitive impairment;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fnagi.2017.00261

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

A large number of morphology-based studies have previously reported a variety of regional abnormalities in hemispheric asymmetry in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, neuroimaging studies have revealed changes in the topological organization of the structural network in AD. However, little is known about the alterations in topological asymmetries. In the present study, we used diffusion tensor image tractography to construct the hemispheric brain white matter networks of 25 AD patients, 95 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and 48 normal control (NC) subjects. Graph theoretical approaches were then employed to estimate hemispheric topological properties. Rightward asymmetry in both global and local network efficiencies were observed between the two hemispheres only in AD patients. The brain regions/nodes exhibiting increased rightward asymmetry in both AD and MCI patients were primarily located in the parahippocampal gyrus and cuneus. The observed rightward asymmetry was attributed to changes in the topological properties of the left hemisphere in AD patients. Finally, we found that the abnormal hemispheric asymmetries of brain network properties were significantly correlated with memory performance (Rey’s Auditory Verbal Learning Test). Our findings provide new insights into the lateralized nature of hemispheric disconnectivity and highlight the potential for using hemispheric asymmetry of brain network measures as biomarkers for AD.

【 授权许可】

Unknown